Hey Folks!

I have been thinking and planning all month on what I wanted to write about. It’s been a tough choice because perhaps as a person that’s both a Professional Advocate and a person with Multiple Disabilities, I want to both scream and File multiple ADA and Civil Rights Charges against a host of Violators as we speak.

I will share with you surprisingly that despite the (17) years of my living with disabilities and my over 300 plus fights with Businesses and Organizations, I have never screamed once but I have shed more than a few tears and required New and Constant Refills on my Medications.

As such, this seems like an Appropriate Time and Topic for the Month because I am currently in a fight with a Gasoline Service Station in the State of Kentucky.

Almost a year ago, I was with my friend and Physician; Dr. T.C. McDaniel travelling to Tennessee from Ohio. Not unlike some trips, we find ourselves needing to urgently use the restroom. So, because, I am both a Shell and BP Credit Card user, I decided to stop at one of those Stations. As we pulled in, I could clearly see that there was absolutely no resemblance to the ADA. I’ve leaned that in the past that equates to “your wheelchair ain’t gonna fit”

So, with the help of my Physician, my Assistance Dog; Tank and my cane, I attempt to walk into the Station. As soon as I get into the station, the Clerk goes ballistic. He’s yelling at me to get the dog out of the store, while threatening to call the police. I try to quickly calm him as he is feverishly trying to crawl across the counter with the telephone in his hand. The only thing that stopped him was all of the items on the counter. I told him to please call the police and he then hung up as he runs around the corner charging at me.

I am moving in the direction of the restroom as he continues to block my path as Dr. McDaniel walks in. He sees the problem and right away try’s to explain my Rights as I hurry to the restroom.
I get into the restroom, lock the door and sit down. Oh No! It was every customer’s night mare. There was no toilet tissue, no paper towel nor even any soap.

Without going into detail, I try to get myself together to go out and ask for tissue. I tried yelling but the Clerk was so loud, they didn’t hear me.

The clerk is still going ballistic and Dr. McDaniel is taking it full force and now I am concerned that the Clerk is going to hit him. Dr. McDaniel has been a family friend since I was a child and he was then 93 years old. He had just had hip surgery and my concern was that if he got knocked down on a hard floor, it would be more than just devastating.

Dr. McDaniel is not only my friend and Physician but he is the oldest Practicing Physician in the State of Ohio and I am very proud to be his friend.

After additional pleas for tissue and learning that the Ladies Restroom also couldn’t be used, we both agreed that I better get to another Public Restroom. For those of you that are wondering about my having an “accident” you would be more than correct.

Now, I would have to get back into the van and go into another public business being very embarrassed and very uncomfortable.

When we returned home, I made the usual calls and sent the usual e-mails. Remember, I’ve been through these egregious incidents over 300 plus times so I know the drill. I contact the Corporate Office for the Service Station but I didn’t expect any compassion or concern because I have dealt with this Corporation on several occasions and they are simply a continual Repeat Offender.

I contact the Kentucky Protection and Advocacy Agency, the State Civil Rights Office and I contact the Local Press and no one was remotely interested.

With a few weeks, I learn that the State Protection and Advocacy Agency is going to attempt to collaborate with the U. S. Department of Justice on my Case.

So, to quickly move along, the first Telephone Conference between all parties was just a few weeks ago. The Mediator for the DOJ and the Attorney for the State of Kentucky all seemed pretty comfortable with the Station Owner writing me a Letter of Apology, training for all employees, a small donation to my Assistance Dog Training Facility and a Sign Posting for the Public, letting them know Assistance Animals are allowed, Wrong!

I have a File full of Letters from Corporate Attorneys, Chairmen, Presidents, Vice Presidents and all levels of lower management and even Insurance Adjustors. Each and every Letter has the same promise: “It will never happen again”. If this was correct, how did I ever reach 300 plus?

Odd but Wall Street and our Nations Stock Holders would be embarrassed to learn the repeated number of times, their Corporations have attacked me and hundreds of others over my/our Assistance Dogs but now I am being offered another Letter for my File, No Thank You!

I consider this besides being Violations of State Criminal and Civil Law and Federal Law, it’s a matter of the Wonderful Concept of “having a Right” to a “normal quality of life” Issue as spelled out in the Declaration of Independence in 1776, not just the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Odd but as a person of African Ancestry, I/we have had to fight for it and still are today. Now as a person with a disability, I/we am/are still fighting for what the Law of the Land allows and to allow people and businesses to continue breaking the Laws and then hire lawyers to make excuses for them, is just unconstitutional and Unacceptable.

So, with the Quality of Life concept in my head, I Proposed another Settlement. For the last 10 years I have been in a too small hospital bed. I proposed they purchase a used Hospital Bed at a cost of about $950.

Secondly, I have a Van with a Bruno Electric Lift in the rear. Well, I’m an Electric Wheelchair User and although I’m very thankful to the VA Hospital for the Lift, it’s not what I need but who can afford a $50,000 Van with a Wheelchair Ramp? 

Because of my health/disability, if I get out of my Hospital Bed to go to someone’s aid, it’s very difficult. To travel to the State Capital every other month for the Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities Meetings, to run to an Emergency Room to assist with a client or to even volunteer as an Ombudsman for Pro seniors and visit a Nursing Home weekly can be grueling.

So, I suggested, the owner of the Station also provide me with a Van with a Ramp.

You can guess their Response and the Mediator stepped in and suggested another Date and Telephone Conference time to have all Parties think about the Resolution. Keep in mind, neither the DOJ Mediator nor the State Protection and Advocacy Attorney felt my Resolution was Acceptable. I have even recently been contacted and informed that the Owner isn’t willing to Resolve this matter if Monies are required.

Could it be because they have not lived as a Minority for 50 years? Could it be because they are not disabled and haven’t been beat up over their Constitutional Rights since Birth?

So, throw me out of a Emergency Room; threaten to shoot me with a shotgun if I don’t leave; threaten to arrest my Assistance Dog; try to prevent me from seeing my 16 old daughter in the Exam Room that was sexually assaulted; force me out into a Thunderstorm to get Proof of the Law concerning Assistance Animals out of my Van; have the local Police remove me and threaten me with jail again and again; have the local Deputy Sheriffs remove me again and again, refuse to allow me into a Courtroom; stop me from being able to get my Meds at the Pharmacy; grab me by my collar; curse me out or just Scare the Hell out of me but you want me to accept these were just “unfortunate” incidents and they are sorry. 

As I prepare for the Upcoming Telephone Conference, I would welcome your Input. TheADA.1@Juno.com